Sounds good? OK, scroll down and I'll show you how to make origami boxes like these...

Origami Gift Box Instructions

To begin with, I'll show you how to make a "normal" rectangular box the same size as the strawberry one in the photo at the top of this page. (5" long by 3" wide by 2" high.) Further down the page I'll show you how to make a long skinny box, or how to make a box whatever size and shape you want.

Rule up your card

Start with a sheet of card or paper. I like to use scrapbooking card, which is about as thick as the stuff greeting cards are made from. It makes nice solid gift boxes.

Draw the pattern below on your piece of card. Basically it's just a 9" by 7" rectangle ruled with a 2" border. (Mark in pencil so you can rub it off later!)

Cut around the outside rectangle, so that you're left with a 9" by 7" piece of card.

Follow video to fold box

Now just follow my origami box instructions video to make your box:

(If the video doesn't display, you might need to download the free
Adobe flash player
. If the video keeps starting and stopping, then the best thing to do is pause it and come back in 5 minutes when it's finished loading.)

Make a Lid for your Origami Gift Box

You make the lid exactly the same was as you made the box, but with a slightly different sized piece of card. You'll want a 7.5" by 5.5" piece of card ruled with a 1 1/8" border, like this:

Different Sizes of Origami Gift Boxes

Now that you've made a "normal" sized box, have a go making some in different sizes. You can make them the perfect size to fit your gift :-)

Slender Box

Here are the dimensions for making a slender box like the blue one in the photo further up the page:
For the base, use a 10" by 5" piece of card, ruled with a 1.5" border.
For the lid, use a 9.5" by 4.5" piece of card, ruled with a 1 1/8" border.

Choose-Your-Own-Size Box

What about other shapes and sizes? Well, you just need to draw a rectangle the right size. Here's a diagram showing you how:

This design works best when your box is at least 1" or greater in height. For smaller heights it gets quite fiddly

The thickness of the border will end up being the height of the box. The length and width of the smaller rectangle in the middle will be the length and width of the final box. It's a bit tricky to explain but hopefully you get the idea :-)

Then, when you make the lid, the trick to getting the size just right is to make the lid about 1/4" (0.5 cm) wider and longer than the base, and not quite has high.